16 comments:

Anonymous
said...

At that BMAC meeting today the ‘statutory’ Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes complained bitterly about the introduction of new rules that forbid business class travel if flying, unless there were exceptional circumstances. He appeared worried he might suffer from Deep Vein Thrombosis.

Richard wasn't too happy either with the thought that if the GLA booked hotel accommodation for him it would be of three stars or equivalent. He said he didn’t live in three star accommodation at home, so why should he suffer it if away on GLA business.

Yeah I saw that. There was a look of horror in his eyes as he asked "three stars in which country" The thought of a three star hotel in Mumbai didn't bear thinking about perhaps.

It went on forever and Mike Tuffrey looked embarrassed by the whole thing and said something like "I knew we would spend the most time today talking about expenses." Barnes and Coleman didn't seem to have the same sense of self-awareness.

Boris has an ideology? Livingstone never governed as if he did, it's partly why I voted for him in 2004/2008. If he'd governed as a red hot Marxist I wouldn't have, since I don't trust ideologues to do the right thing when the right thing clashes with their ideology, which it will because the world's not perfect.

"I expect Ken's taxi journeys were usually much shorter"

I'd expect he travelled rather fewer miles by taxi, yes. That's what the *bill is lower you mug*. Really. Anyway, I think I'm right in saying Ken lives in the suburbs (Dollis Hill) while Boris lives in the inner city (Highbury/Islington somewhere).

This is typically shoddy work. The figures you link to are for three months, not two months - and you are deliberately selective in your comparisons.

Ken's taxi bills are less. But what about his £5,460 on "foreign travel," his £6,811 "other expenses," his total expenses of £13,115 - all substantially more than Boris's. With only two months of the financial year left, Boris's total expenses so far are little more than half what Ken's were.

I am happy to correct any factual errors, but I have not distorted anything. Boris said he would only use taxis occasionally and he told Assembly members to show restraint. This claim plus the claims from the Hillingdon PQT do not demonstrate that restraint.

It really is world-turned-upside-down day in London. Over in Docklands, the US and UK are trying to persuade France and Germany to increase public spending, whilst the Evening Standard publishes a story favorably comparing Ken with Boris (http://tinyurl.com/cee5kx). I'm not sure my head can cope.

Not quite sure how that story on MayorWatch came back online actually, it was removed (well, reset to draft) last week after a bit of a spat over a press release issued and then withdrawn and seems to have come back after some database issues we've had today.